[acb-hsp] Panic Attacks

[peter altschul]

Panic Attacks
  David Sirota February 28, 2013
  As anyone who has ever experienced a panic attack well knows, 
one of the most difficult aspects of managing anxiety disorders 
is having to do it in secret for fear of being labeled a freak.  
I can personally attest that such a fear often makes the problem 
worse, compounding generalized worry with the specific concern 
that you will be ostracized.
  This is why the last year has been so important for the 40 
million Americans like me who the National Institute of Mental 
Health says periodically suffers from anxiety-related disorders.  
It was a year that saw these all-too-common ailments emerge from 
the shadows.
  It started in professional sports, a particularly difficult 
arena for a mental-health coming out party.  After all, it's a 
machismo-dominated world where showing any signs of weakness is 
usually depicted as nothing more than a personal failing or a 
lack of "toughness."
  Yet, last April, San Francisco Giants first-baseman Aubrey Huff 
put himself on the disabled list for an anxiety disorder and 
courageously opened up to that city's newspaper about his 
struggles.  Then came what the New York Times called "one of the 
more frightening -- and remarkable -- rounds of golf ever caught 
on video" -- the one in which Charlie Beljan competed in (and 
eventually won) a PGA tournament while experiencing a five-hour 
panic attack.  His attack was so severe, in fact, that upon 
finishing a golf round, he had to be carted away in an ambulance.
  Soon after those episodes, Hollywood jumped in with director 
David O.  Russell's masterpiece film, "Silver Linings Playbook." 
Though it did not win best picture at last week's Academy Awards, 
it should have -- and not just because it examined mental health 
disorders in general, but because it examined those disorders in 
such a thoughtful way.
  Save for the rare comedy (like, say, 1981's "Modern Romance" 
and 1997's "As Good As It Gets"), most films that have touched on 
mental health issues have typically offered the audience a binary 
picture -- one that only shows obviously insane people and 
perfectly well-balanced people.  This false dichotomy creates a 
comforting perception of distance.  Much like oversimplified news 
reports on deranged criminals, the portrayal insinuates that 
mental health issues only afflict the "other" -- that is, they 
only afflict a few "crazy" people, not many "normal" people in 
general.
  "Silver Linings Playbook," however, says the opposite.  Yes, it 
does have two characters who are debilitated by the kinds of 
mental illnesses that often involve anxiety disorders.  But it 
also has an ensemble cast of other characters -- a sports crazed 
father, an enabling mother, a stressed out neighbor -- whom 
society sees as "normal" and yet they too are likely suffering 
from such disorders.
  Put the sports news together with Russell's film, and the pop 
culture megaphone is countering the reductionist news coverage of 
mass shooters with a complicated, honest and entirely necessary 
message about the more nuanced reality of mental health.  In the 
process, we are being reminded that these problems are not 
isolated and not either/or -- they operate on a gradual continuum 
and they are everywhere.
  Having that truth out into the open is, unto itself, a welcome 
step away from ugly stigmas and, hopefully, toward solutions.  
Indeed, if such a trend continues, it is possible that those who 
are suffering in silence will eventually feel less frightened to 
seek help.
  Right now, though, too many either feel uncomfortable or do not 
have access to that assistance.  Millions are like "Silver 
Linings Playbook's" bipolar protagonist who says of dealing with 
his mental health troubles: "I've been doing this all on my own 
with no help and basically just white-knuckling it this whole 
time."
  Maybe now is the moment that finally starts to change.